Behind the scenes of the broadband initiative

By Town Administrator Frank Lancaster - For the Trail Gazette

Posted:
01/29/2016 08:47:27 AM MST

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the importance of broadband internet access to the community. On Feb. 3, 2015, Estes Park voters elected to opt-out of Colorado's Senate Bill 152 - with 92 percent support. This allows the Town to reclaim local authority to build a telecommunications infrastructure. Broadband internet is no longer considered a luxury - it's a basic utility needed not just for technology-based businesses, but for nearly all business and home uses. Estes Park and its surrounding areas lack adequate, reliable, affordable and redundant high-speed internet service. The 2013 flood underscored the criticality of communications and the importance of redundant broadband to retain critical communications.

The Town and the Estes Park Economic Development Corporation jointly applied for and were awarded a grant from the Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce. One segment of this grant was a broadband assessment. This resulted in the Estes Park Broadband Expansion and Technical Assistance Strategy Report completed by an outside expert, NEO Fiber, in July 2015. Community outreach resulted in significant support for solutions to offering high-speed, reliable and affordable Internet service.

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We'd like to take this opportunity to provide you with an update of what we've been working on since the release of the report.

The Town of Estes Park continues to research and investigate the opportunities and challenges of offering broadband services through the Town's Utilities Department. We have been doing our due diligence by examining three assumptions in the NEO Fiber report. The first area we investigated was the cost assumption. We've met with other communities and organizations with hands-on experience installing fiber networks to see if the costs stated in the report were accurate and reasonable -- and it appears that they are. The second important factor to investigate is the "take rate," or how many people would subscribe to a high speed broadband option, if it were available, and at what cost. This is the revenue side of the equation needed to determine if a broadband utility is financially viable. The Town is working with Dr. Jill Mosteller of the Colorado State University Department of Marketing to conduct a study to help determine what the take rate would be and gauge the price sensitivity of the community for broadband services. Dr. Mosteller is currently wrapping up data analysis from the take rate surveys completed last month.

In the last leg of this three-legged stool, the Town submitted a grant application to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for approximately $1.4 million to fund the final engineering work, including routes to Glen Haven and Allenspark. These funds would allow the Town to complete final engineering to determine detailed costs for fiber construction. The results of the final engineering will provide the Town very detailed cost information as it considers offering broadband services through its Utilities Department. We expect to learn the status of our grant request in March.

Once all three of these steps are complete, the Town Board and the community should have the information needed to make a final decision on how to proceed with bringing 21st century high speed broadband to the Estes Valley. Should the board decide to proceed, the Town would then issue revenue bonds to fund the construction of the system. If everything moves forward, it is possible that some construction could begin as soon as later this year. However, it's important to keep in mind that it would take several years to build a complete system serving the Estes Valley and the surrounding areas currently served by our Light and Power Division.

Watch for more information about the Town's broadband utility research as it becomes available. You can contact us any time with questions by calling 970-577-3700 or emailingtownadmin@estes.org.

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